The Price of Freedom
by Coengar2
Summary: After refusing to accept the training that Nodoka has planned for him Ranma strikes off on his own but learns that freedom has a price


The Price of Freedom

The Price of Freedom

After refusing to accept the training that Nodoka has arranged for him, Ranma embarks on a journey to take control of his life that will lead him down a new path of life and where he'll learn the true price of freedom

The Price of Freedom

Part One: Breaking the Chains

Disclaimers: I do not own any of the known characters in this story (AKA if you know who they are, I don't own the rights to them.) I'm not trying to infringe on any copyrights I'm just writing this story for my personal enjoyment and not to make a quick buck off of anyone's previous work. So don't sue me, I'm broke anyway.

Part One:

Ranma was shuffling down the street mindlessly kicking a rock, his hands stuffed into his pants pockets. The look on his face pretty much telling the world that Ranma Saotome was having a very bad day.

His day started in the usual way, with his father flinging him out of the window towards the koi pond signaling the start of the morning sparring session. However, Genma pulled something in his back as he tossed Ranma out of the window causing Ranma not to land in the pond but instead he simply landed head first on the flag stones that surrounded the pond. As he slid into unconsciousness Ranma's limp body fell forward dumping him into the pond where Nabiki of all people had to pull a now red haired Ranmachan out of the water.

Nabiki added the cost of dry cleaning her clothes to his already large tab as well as tacking on a small charge for the rescue.

It took Ranmachan a while to awaken making her late for school so she ran out of the house not only forgetting to eat breakfast but forgetting to grab her lunch bento as well.

On the way to school Ranma was run over by Shampoo on her delivery bike than trampled by Mousse who was chasing after Shampoo. Ryoga launched a surprise Shi Shi Hokoden that caught Ranmachan in the blast radius but Ryoga was splashed by the little old ladle lady before he could follow up with a smashing punch on the dazed Ranmachan. So Pchan settled for running up and biting Ranmachan on her ankle before running off and getting lost again.

Ranmachan made it to school before the last bell only to be accosted by Kuno who spouted off bits of stupid poetry while groping Ranmachan's boobs. A sudden flurry of kicks to the chin launched the idiot into low orbit, however he still had a grip on her Chinese style shirt and he took most of it with him as he reached terminal velocity, leaving her standing there pretty much naked above the waist.

One of her classmates came to her rescue and loaned the now chilled girl a shirt to wear for the day, it was bright pink with a Hello Kitty graphic on the front, just looking at it made Ranma want to be violently ill.

The fight with Kuno made her late for class so she wound up in the hall holding buckets while people passed by and made comments about her daring fashion choice. All Ranma could do was stand there grinding her teeth and try to remember the faces of all the smartasses so that he could pay them a little visit later on.

Ranma was happy when lunch time rolled around but that happiness was quickly shattered as he recalled that she had forgotten to bring her lunch which had long since been eaten by a certain panda.

Her happiness bloomed again when both Ukyo and Shampoo appeared with offers of free food, and died again as she noticed Akane approaching holding a large bowl of something belching forth noxious green oily smoke that caused the leaves of nearby trees to turn black and fall to the ground.

Ranma decided that she could stand to lose a couple of pounds and so she took off for the hills just as the usual lunch time fiancée brawl began.

Ranma skipped the rest of her classes figuring that the various girls could use some time to cool off and that he needed to find some hot water and take off the stupid pink shirt.

The rest of the afternoon was pure hell for the pig tailed martial artist as it seemed as if the kami of education was punishing him for skipping class. He was splashed no less than five more times, once by a sudden but very brief rain shower, once by the ladle lady and once by a fire hydrant that had suddenly burst near him. Ranma still wasn't sure what splashed him the other two times.

After a quick stop at Dr Tofu's for some more hot water, Ranma was now kicking a rock and thinking that the day just couldn't get any worse.

Ranma made it back to the Tendo dojo and pulled up short as he entered the house. There was his mother sitting at the dinning room table with a very stern look on her face, a smug looking Nabiki standing behind her.

"Great, she ratted me out about skipping class this afternoon." Ranma groaned to himself. "Let's get this over with."

"Hi Mom." He called out cheerfully.

"Don't Hi Mom me mister." His mother replied "come here."

"Oh great, her samurai queen voice." Ranma knew things were, in fact, about to get worse.

"I heard from a little bird that you failed to attend your afternoon classes at school today.' Nodoka shot her son an icy glare as she fingered the edge on her katana. "Care to explain why?"

Ranma sighed "It probably won't do any good, it never has before but here goes." Ranma than went into detail about his terrible day and even put the awful pink t shirt on the table for his mom to see.

Nodoka nodded her head "I can understand your feelings Ranma but you must attend school. Your grades are bad enough as it is."

"Like that really matters Mom especially since everyone already has me running the dojo after I graduate." Ranma grumbled.

Nabiki was surprised, she'd never heard Ranma talk back even in the slightest to his mother before. She recognized it as a warning sign that something in Ranma was about to blow.

Nodoka however missed it entirely.

"Well, since you seem to feel that you have no use for school,' Nodoka stated in a very firm tone "Than I guess that my decision today for your training was the right one."

"What training?" Ranma asked with some nervousness.

"It is time for you to begin training in the family Art." Nodoka answered "In fact, your training should have begun when you were 13 but your father still had you out on that ridiculous training trip of his."

"Momma, I do train in the family Art, Anything Goes martial arts, remember?" Ranma said.

"No Ranma that is your father's Art." Nodoka corrected her son "Now you will begin training in the true Saotome Art."

"Just what exactly is that Momma?' for some reason Ranma was getting the feeling of a large flock of butterflies swooping around in his stomach.

"For over 100 generations Ranma, the Saotome family have been demon hunters." came Nodoka's answer.

"Demon hunters??" Ranma barely managed to squeak out.

"Indeed, and just not any kind of demon Ranma," Nodoka began speaking in her samurai queen voice again "We hunt only the most disgusting, perverse hentai of all demons, sex demons."

"You're joking right?" Ranma asked without much hope that she was.

"I most certainly am not joking young man." Nodoka sternly answered "Now go pack your things, I've already called home to let them know that you will be arriving tomorrow to begin your training."

"Just what kind of training are we talking about mom?" Ranma was definitely not liking the way this conversation was going.

"Well let's see, since you are going to have to start your training from the beginning I'm sure they'll start by teaching you masturbation techniques."

Ranma, Nabiki and Kasumi who had just entered the room all face planted at that, however Nodoka failed to notice and continued listing off all the things that Ranma would be learning.

"Than there will be oral training, trust me when a sex demon has you in its grip you'll be thankful that you learned how to deep throat. Than there will be vaginal and anal training and with the way you seem to easily master martial arts techniques I'm sure you'll be learning advanced bondage techniques in no time." Nodoka was beaming with pride as she finished "Not to mention the use of sex magic."

Ranma leaned over to a madly blushing Nabiki and whispered "What's deep throat mean?"

Nabiki slowly turned her face towards him, her eyes wide in disbelief, reached up and grabbed his ear and slowly pulled him down to her where she whispered her answer.

All the color drained from Ranma's face as he glared at Nabiki with shock plastered all over his face then he turned to face his mother and with a deep breath replied "OH LIKE HELL I WILL!!"

Nodoka was obviously displeased with that response and a mask of steel slammed down on her face as she spat her reply back at her disrespectful son.

"Saotome Ranma, the only reason I agreed to let your father take you away was so that you could learn a few things that could be applied when you began your real training. There is no debate for this Ranma, you WILL leave tomorrow. You WILL learn the Saotome demon hunting style and you WILL continue the family tradition, it is a matter of the utmost honor."

Ranma had one last card to play in the hopes of getting out of this training. "But Mom, I can't do some of that stuff, only girls can do that."

Nodoka smirked; she'd been expecting this one. "Than it's a good thing that you can change into a girl's form isn't it Ranma."

Ranma groaned, his last hope had just been shot down.

"Don't worry son, while it is true that you will have to remain in your girl form completely at all times, it will only be until you finish your training."

"And just how long will that take?" Ranma answered weakly

"As I said earlier, given how quickly you grasp new techniques it should only take you two years to master everything. Three years tops." Nodoka gave her son an encouraging smile which came across as being way too predatory for Ranma's liking.

"I have to be a girl all the time for at least two years?" Ranma was praying that the ground would just open up and swallow him as soon as possible.

"Trust me Ranma, after you get over the initial discomfort," Nodoka smiled at Ranma "you'll find your training will become rather enjoyable. Now go upstairs and pack, the family car will pick us up early in the morning tomorrow."

Ranma gave a sigh "Yes Momma." With heavy steps he climbed up the stairs to head to his room, only Kasumi and Nabiki heard him mumble as he left "Would it really disturb the universe that much if I could only have SOME control over my own life?"

The two Tendo sisters turned and faced each other.

"Poor Ranma." Kasumi whispered

A still beet red Nabiki could only nod in agreement.

Later that evening Nabiki was sitting at her desk doing her homework when she heard a knock on her door.

"Come on in Ranma." She called out.

Ranma shuffled into her room, a shy grin on his face as he scratched the base of his pig tail. "How'd you know it was me?" he stammered.

"No one else would be daring enough to disturb me this late at night. What's on your mind?"

"This training stuff that Mom was talking about this afternoon, I still don't understand what some of it is."

"What can't you figure out?" Nabiki asked as Ranma began to blush.

Nabiki then spent the next several hours trying to explain to a severely blushing Ranma just what Nodoka was saying that he would be learning about during his training.

As Ranma stumbled back to his room looking rather ill, Nabiki could only sit on her bed shaking her head. "I've just spent the last two hours giving Ranma very graphic descriptions of sexual acts. I need a cold shower and he only looks like he's about to throw up. No wonder him and Akane are having problems."

After an hour Ranma stretched out with his ki sense to make sure that everyone in the house was deep asleep then he hastily scrawled out a note that he placed on his pillow and shouldered his pack. With a quick leap out the window and another over the wall Ranma was gone.

It would be several more hours before anyone woke up and noticed that he was missing, that would be all the head start time he would need, he would never step foot in the Tendo dojo again.

Nodoka awoke to the early morning sun shining in her face. She broke into a broad smile as she stretched and put on her robe. 'I better go wake up Ranma so that he can take a bath before the family car comes to take us home to begin his training."

She was still smiling as she softly padded her way down to the door of Ranma's room where she gently knocked and called out "Ranma dear, it's time to get ready to go. The car will be here soon for us."

There was no answer from within so she knocked again "Ranma, wake up you must get ready to leave."

Still no answer, with mild frustration she flung open the door only to find the room empty and Ranma's pack missing. She gave a slow sigh "That's right; he usually gets up early to do katas in the dojo. I bet that's where he is now."

Than she noticed the note on Ranma's pillow and went over to pick it up and read it.

As she read the scrawled words her face grew red and an angry mask fell across her face as she stormed out of the room.

"Genma, Get up and help me find your son!" she cried out to her husband who shot out of bed and quickly got dressed. He could tell that his wife was very angry about something and he had no wish to be the outlet for that anger.

"What's the matter No-chan? Genma tried to sooth his upset wife as he noticed that the

Tendos were appearing, having been disturbed by Nodoka's tirade.

"Auntie? Is there a problem?" only Kasumi dared to approach the angry woman who thrust out a crumpled note towards her. Kasumi gently pried the note from Nodoka's hand and gasped softly as she read it.

_Mother_

_This training that you intend to make me take is sickening and disgusting._

_I ain't gonna let you to turn me into some kind of magical girl whore. _

_So I am giving up the Saotome family name and have left to find an Art that I will enjoy learning._

_Maybe some day you'll forgive me but if not than at least I still have my freedom and control over my own life._

_Ranma_

_PS: please give Kasumi my thanks for taking care of me and to Nabiki for always being there for me._

By the time Kasumi had reread the note, this time out loud so the rest of the Tendos could hear, the Saotomes were already out combing the area looking for the missing Ranma.

Unknown to his parents, Ranma was tucked snugly to the top of a bullet train heading north, trying to figure out what he was going to do now with the rest of his life. He didn't really have a clue but he did have comfort in knowing that what ever path his life took, it would be taken because HE had made the choice to take it himself.

An hour later Nodoka was back at the dojo trying to explain to a rather upset member of the Saotome family why not only was Ranma not ready to leave to start his training but why he wasn't even at the dojo. Kasumi showing Ranma's note to the family representative did nothing to help Nodoka's case and the representative left in a huff after warning Nodoka that she would eventually have to explain the reasons for Ranma's actions to her father, the head of the Saotome family, personally.

Meanwhile, Soun and Genma had begun to drink themselves into a drunken stupor to mourn the breaking of the marriage agreement. Although Genma was secretly proud of his worthless, dishonorable, coward of a son, he didn't really want Ranma to take the training anyway.

Upstairs Nabiki tried to calm an upset Akane who couldn't understand why Ranma would run out on her. It took all Nabiki had to keep from tearing her spoiled little sister a new one by explaining to her exactly why Ranma would want to get away from her.

Several weeks later in Kyoto:

Tasumo Saotome was not a very happy man at the moment. The patriarch of the Saotome clan was going over the events of the last few weeks in his head along with what he had learned just recently while in a meeting with the cause of all the recent disturbances.

His one and only child, his daughter Nodoka.

Once he had been very proud of his daughter. She was intelligent, beautiful, skilled and simply the greatest hunter to appear in the family in a long time. She had taken to her training in an amazing way and as a hunter had brought much honor to the Saotome name.

He had even arranged a good marriage for her, Genma Haruji was well known as a master of a deadly fighting style called Anything Goes. Its adaptive qualities were just what Tasumo had wanted to add to the family style. It didn't hurt that Genma was a good looking, fit young man who certainly seemed to know just what to say to keep Tasumo's hot blooded daughter calm and happy.

It was only after a few months of marriage that Nodoka announced that she was pregnant. The effect on the family was incredible especially after Tasumo had cast an oracle spell to see what his new grandchild and future heir would be like.

He was surprised and very happy to learn that his grandchild would prove that he had been correct to choose Genma for Nodoka's husband. Where Genma and Nodoka were both masters in their respective Art, their child would surpass them both and would master many other styles and techniques as well. The oracle spell also revealed that the child would have the potential to be the greatest hunter of all time and would be powerful enough to challenge the very Queen of Hell herself. The fact that his grandchild was to be a girl was even better; she would have full access to all the abilities of the Saotome fighting style. For nine months the family household was filled with joyous anticipation as things were readied for the girl's arrival, than everything fell apart.

His grandchild, destined to be the greatest female demon hunter in the history of the family was born and little Ranma was born a boy.

To Tasumo, the fact that his grandchild was a boy seemed like a slap in the face. The oracle spell was wrong but it had never been wrong before, Tasumo wondered why it had failed. Nodoka and Genma took their son and left the family home in shame.

Genma looked at his wife's face as her tears fell like rain down her cheeks and he was angry. How dare her family treat his wife like a pariah, it was not her fault that Ranma was born male. It was the stupid spell not his wife that had failed. Unable to no longer keep his silence at the family's horrid treatment of his wife Genma took her and their son and left the family home. He'd take care of them and he would train his son to be the best martial artist in the world, that would show the family snobs that his son had great worth despite his gender.

Tasumo smiled as he recalled Genma's angry words, vowing to make Ranma a great fighter just to rub their nose in it. Tasumo reached down and picked up two photographs, one was a teenage boy with black hair pulled back into a pigtail, the other of a very beautiful red haired girl also wearing a pigtail.

Genma had been right after all, after their departure Tasumo had used his contacts to keep tabs on his wayward daughter and her family, especially her son, and Ranma had grown up to be an even better fighter than Genma had boasted about making him be. Tasumo had Ranma's activities monitored as closely as he could and while it hurt him to see the chaos that had become his grandchild's life it filled him with pride that he had grown so powerful while still so young and that he had grown up into an honorable man, even if he was a little rough around the edges.

Than something wonderful had occurred, he learned that while on a training trip in China with Genma, Ranma had fallen into a cursed spring and was now cursed to take on the form of a girl. Tasumo smiled as he gazed at the picture of the red haired girl. The spell hadn't failed, he had simply not understood the timeline of the events and Ranma was now capable of becoming everything that the oracle spell had shown Tasumo.

Then out of the blue his daughter had called him and voiced her concerns about her child. Yes he was strong and certainly a very skilled fighter, but he lacked discipline and self control and social graces. Things she was positive that he would never achieve if he stayed with Genma. Nodoka had practically jumped at the chance when Tasumo offered her the opportunity to return to the family home with Ranma so that he could begin his training and fulfill the destiny that the oracle spell had shown.

It was a surprise that rocked the family when they learned that not only had Ranma refused to accept his proper training but had renounced his family name and had disappeared not to be seen since.

There was anger on Tasumo's face as he thought about what he had learned a mere hour ago from his daughter and her worthless husband. Thanks in part to Genma's stupidity Ranma now had a condition that if not cured would prevent him from learning even the basics of the Saotome style. Tasumo knew that he had to find his grandchild soon, there was simply too much power in him to let him slip away from the family and if they could cure his condition than Ranma would be able to accept his/her training and bring even greater glory to the family.

Tasumo took off his glasses, the light from his desk lamp reflecting off the round lens. He smiled as he saw a young woman approach bearing a tray of tea.

"You are getting much better Aoi." He took the offered cup from the woman "I did not notice your arrival until you had stepped into the room."

The girl blushed softly as she set the tray down on the desk. "Thank you Grandfather," she replied in a musical voice "But in truth had you not been so distracted by this morning's meeting you would have noticed me as soon as I started up the stairs."

"No my dear, you really are getting much better." He saw her eyeing the photographs on his desk and slid them towards her. He smiled as he watched her snatch them up and gaze at them with longing filled eyes.

"Don't worry Aoi, we will find my grandchild." He assured the girl who now had tears forming in the corners of her eyes. "And when he returns to us we will honor the agreement between our families." The woman smiled as she slid a strand of her waist length black hair back behind one ear.

Tasumo watched Aoi for a moment; she was very beautiful and skilled, almost equaling Nodoka at her best. Aoi had a quick nimble mind hidden under that long hair of hers and behind those deep violet eyes and all the grace and charm that a woman of noble birth should have.

Tasumo nodded to himself; yes she will make Ranma a fine wife. He chuckled as he thought about his grandchild's curse. With the curse, Aoi might make Ranma into a fine wife as well.

Aoi smiled at the sound of Lord Tasumo's chuckle but kept her gaze locked firmly on the photographs in her hands. The photographs of the person she had been married to from the day she was born. That was why her family had sent her to the Saotome's in the first place, to learn their style and to prepare herself for the day that she would become of age and properly fulfill her responsibilities as Ranma's wife. She looked at the red haired girl, even with his curse she thought that Ranma was beautiful and Aoi was looking forward to the long happy life they would be sharing together. Grandfather Tasumo had even granted Aoi permission to help with Ranma's training. Another smile appeared on her face as if by magic.

"Soon my Husband, very soon we will be together." She sighed

Part Two: Two years later

The raggedy figure stumbled as it walked along the cold streets of the city. Although dirty and dressed in clothes that could barely be considered rags, any one who looked could tell that the stumbling figure was a girl. A girl, whose waist length red hair hung in a disheveled and unwashed mass of tangles and knots that could have once been a pig tail, it could also be seen and smelt that the girl had not known the touch of a bar of soap for quite some time. But the most noticeable thing about the girl by far was her deep sunken eyes with their faraway look. The girl had not known the taste of food or drink or even the touch of sleep in many days and her mind was quickly losing its grasp on sanity.

As the girl rounded a corner and began blindly walking down the sidewalk past the tall buildings that housed many of Japan's major corporations, her attention was attracted by a group of young thugs accosting an old man.

Through bleary eyes the girl began to run awkwardly towards the group determined to save the elderly man from being mugged.

"I save you Grandfather!" the girl cried out as her feet crashed into the nose of one of the thugs, sending him crashing to the ground out like a light. In a matter of seconds his friends soon joined him.

"See Grandfather, Ranma said she'd save you and she did." The girl gave a slight smile as her eyes rolled back into her head and she started to slump towards the ground. The old man rushed to catch her before she fell face first into the gutter. He was in the process of gently lowering her to the ground when a large black car pulled up and a man in a uniform jumped out and ran to the old man's side.

"Hiro, help me get her into the car." The old man said to his driver.

"Of course, Sir." Hiro replied as he went back to the car and opened the rear door.

The old man looked down at the sleeping girl in his arms and with a small smile whispered "Come my little hero, let's get you cleaned up and fed." He carried the girl to the car where Hiro helped to place her inside, laying her out along one of the seats. The old man settled in beside her and Hiro went and sat in the driver's seat.

In a few moments the car pulled away leaving the three thugs still napping on the sidewalk.

As the car traveled through the busy streets the old man sat watching the sleeping girl currently lying on the seat beside him. Even though she was dirty and showed definite signs of having not eaten in a while the old man could tell that she was very good looking, perhaps even beautiful after she had been cleaned up. The old man nodded his head as if he had come to a decision and he pulled out a cell phone and made a call.

"Hello Mother?" the old man spoke into the phone "Please meet me at the carport and have a few of the girls with you." The old man smiled as he listened to the voice on the other end of the call. "Yes, I did find another stray. Yes I'm bringing her home, I'll tell you all about it when I get there, should be in about 25 minutes." The man nodded as a smile broke out on his face "Yes dear, I love you too I'll see you soon."

As the man ended the call and put away his phone he smiled at the sleeping girl. "Well little hero, a hot bath, some warm food and a soft bed should perk you right up. Don't worry child, you're safe now."

The driver, Hiro, looked into the monitor that showed the images of his employer that the security camera caught. He noticed the soft smile on the man's face and a smile of his own appeared. "It seems that Mr. Hasagawa has found a new friend."

Hiro had noticed as he pulled up to the curb how fast the girl had dispatched the hoods who were trying to mug his boss. Hiro had some training in the martial arts and had even earned his black belt but there was something about the girl and the way she handled those three punks that told Hiro that he wasn't even in the girl's league. He just hoped that the Hasagawa's could help free her from whatever it was that had reduced her to her current state.

Hiro smiled as he noticed the look of protectiveness that had formed on his employer's face. It would be hard for anyone to imagine that Hasagawa Daisuke, one of Tokyo's most wealthiest and powerful men, was in fact a secret philanthropist. He donated millions of yen yearly to various charities, always anonymously. He gave out low interest loans to small business to help ease local poverty. He built numerous parks and playgrounds and secretly paid for new school renovations and libraries.

The best kept secret of Hasagawa Daisuke however was his habit of picking up strays as his wife Nami had come to call them. The strays were usually street kids who were just on the verge of messing up their lives big time. The Hasagawa's would take them in; give them shelter, food and a warm caring home life. They even paid for those who wanted it to go to college. All they asked for in return was that the strays treat them and themselves with honor and respect. Even though a few of the strays had betrayed that trust, it never stopped the Hasagawa's from bringing more home.

Hiro smiled as he thought about the ones who took him in. He was a stray also as were most of the staff at the Hasagawa mansion. Mr. Hasagawa caught him trying to hotwire his car. Instead of calling the police he instead took Hiro out for lunch and had a long talk with him. By the time the sun set Hiro had a new home and soon graduated from high school. He passed on college and instead went to a vocational school where he learned auto mechanics. Now he has happy to be Mr. Hasagawa's driver and the one in charge of all the vehicles at the mansion.

"Father," Hiro called back to the Mr. Hasagawa, "She is certainly a very skilled fighter."

The old man nodded, he had noticed that fact as well. It did not bother him that his driver called him father, in fact he insisted on it. He thought of his strays as if they were his children, a sentiment his wife shared as well as she had them call her mother. However Hiro wanted to seem like a professional when doing his duties and so never called them by such informal names when in public, neither did any of the other strays.

"Yes Hiro, despite her weakened condition her attacks were done with such skill and grace I can only believe that she has been well trained." Mr. Hasagawa replied.

As he watched, the girl mumbled softly and rolled onto her side, as she did such her shirt sleeve pulled up revealing to the old man that the girl had two tattoos on her shoulder. He looked more closely and could tell that they were something written in Chinese. The top one was done with grace and skill but had been defaced by several scars as if slashed by a knife making it hard to read. The lower one was done in a shakier and heavy handed style but was unmarred and in fact there were some smaller words added under it, done in a different writing style. Unfortunately Mr. Hasagawa could not read Chinese so he figured that he'd ask the girl about them later when she recovered.

Soon the car pulled through the gates of the Hasagawa estate and made its way up the winding driveway. As it pulled into the carport Daisuke saw his beloved Nami standing there with a loving smile on her face, beside her stood three girls in maid's uniforms waiting for instructions. They were also strays and were looking forward to meeting their newest sister. All the strays felt like siblings and treated and cared for each other as such.

Nami walked forward and gave her husband a kiss and smiled, "So you brought another one home huh?"

Daisuke returned the kiss and the smile "I couldn't help myself. Three thugs approached me while Hiro was bringing the car around."

Hiro looked at the ground ashamed that he hadn't been there to protect the man he thought of as father. Daisuke noticed and placed a fatherly hand on the young man's shoulder, "Now don't be bothered Hiro, you were busy getting the car, it was just bad timing that those thugs showed up when they did. Now please help remove Ranma from the car so that we can get her into the house."

Daisuke continued as he watched Hiro lean into the car and take the still sleeping Ranma into his arms. "The thugs tried to mug me but suddenly I heard someone call me grandfather and say they were going to save me. Next thing I know, this redheaded fireball landed in the middle of them and BAM they were all out cold. She passed out before I could thank her. I figured she could use some food and a bed, oh, and definitely a bath."

Hiro stood back up cradling Ranma in his arms. Nami smiled as she saw the sleeping girl. "The poor thing looks a mess." Nami turned to the awaiting maids. "Emi, run ahead to the guest bathroom and start the tub." The maid, Emi, nodded her head and ran to fill the tub.

"Shioko, you lead Hiro to the bathroom and help Emi get the poor girl in the tub, I'll be there shortly to help get her washed up." Shioko also nodded and soon she was leading Hiro to the guest bathroom.

Hasagawa Nami turned to the final maid "Kei child, run to the kitchen and tell Shinobu-chan to prepare some hot food for the girl, nothing heavy, just broth and some water and juice."

"Yes Mother." Kei replied and headed off to the kitchen.

Nami turned and looked back at her husband and saw that he was standing there with a serious look on her face. There was one other secret that very few knew about Daisuke. Before he went off to become a wealthy business man, he had an uncle who claimed to be some kind of mystic and he told Daisuke that he had inherited the family gift.

While Daisuke refused to allow the man to train him in his so called gift, he did notice a few things about himself. He seemed to be able to know when something would turn out for the good or the bad. This allowed him to make sound choices in his business deals as a few "sure bets" had turned sour before he had invested in them and a few "small fries" earned him huge returns.

His other gift was that he seemed to be able to see a person's soul, to know who to trust and who not to. It wasn't always accurate as they had learned from the few strays who had stolen from them, but when it was it was spot on.

Nami walked over to her husband and took his hand "A yen for your thoughts." She teased.

He smiled down at her "I'll have to give you change." She poked him in his ribs for that one.

"What's wrong Dai? She asked "Is it the new girl?"

"Yes it is Mother." He replied while scratching his chin.

"Do you feel like you've made a mistake bringing her home?"

"Not at all, in fact I'm getting the feeling that this was what I was supposed to do." He smiled again "That little hero is going to make an impact on our lives I can just tell."

Nami squeezed his hand "Than what's troubling you dearest?" her voice filled with concern.

"I can't help but feel that she has gone through hell to get here and that it's not over yet."

"Well, we'll be there for her if she let's us." Nami started to walk back towards the house so that she could join Emi and Shioko in the guest bath but stopped when Daisuke hadn't released her hand.

"Nami, the girl has some kind of Chinese writing tattooed on her arm. Perhaps Mei can read it?" Daisuke asked with concern in his voice.

"I'll have her meet us in the guest bath then." Nami smiled as she gave Daisuke's hand one last gentle squeeze and then she entered the house, a quick call on her phone and soon Mei joined her and the others in the guest bath.

As Nami entered the bath she saw the two girls sitting on a bench holding a naked sobbing Ranma.

Emi looked up from where she was rocking the sobbing girl and Nami could see tears forming in her eyes as well.

"Oh Mother," the girl said in a wavering voice "Ranma just woke up and when we explained where she was at and what was happening she just broke down."

Shioko stepped up next to Nami and whispered so that only Nami and Mei could hear. "Whatever life the poor girl has led before coming to us has been hard indeed. She is covered in scars and there are a few things you need to see."

Shioko led the two over and knelt beside the now silently sobbing Ranma. "Sister," the girl shivered at the word and Mei's eyes widened as she saw the tattoos on the girl's arm "This is our Mother and she wants to help you. Please stand up so that she can get a look at you."

Ranma looked at her with fear showing in her deep blue eyes.

"It's alright Sister." Emi smiled as she helped the girl stand "Mother will help make things better, you'll see."

Ranma stood up with the help of Emi and Shioko but kept her face downwards as Nami approached her.

Nami looked over the girl's shivering body, there were signs of hunger but it did little to hide the fact that the girl had the firm figure of a trained athlete, not too muscular but very toned with some soft definition. The fact that the girl would be a beauty when cleaned up was obvious to everyone in the room. Nami ran a finger over a small puckered wound on the girl's side.

"A bullet wound?" Nami asked while she peered at Ranma's back and saw a matching wound.

Ranma could only nod.

Nami's eyes grew hard as she traced a finger down the scars left on Ranma's back by what she assumed to be a bullwhip or something similar. The other girls' eyes widened with shock as they saw the whip scars.

"Was the one who shot you the same person who did this to your back?" Nami tried hard to keep the anger out of her voice.

"No Maam," Ranma managed to mumble softly "Master is dead, others wanted to capture me, to claim me."

"Where did this happen Child?" Nami was definitely angry. The girl was an escaped sex slave and Nami hated anyone who would do that to a young girl.

Ranma was barely hanging on to consciousness as she continued mumbling "Master in Hong Kong shot in Jusenkyo."

Mei's eyes narrowed as she heard the word Jusenkyo while reading the girl's tattoos. Finally she spoke.

"Ranma?"

The redhead slowly raised her head and everyone felt the deep sadness and pain that was reflected in her blue eyes.

Mei took Ranma's head gently between her hands and locked eyes with her.

"Amazon?"

Ranma nodded.

"For how long?" Mei asked.

"A year and a half." came Ranma's soft reply.

Mei touched the top tattoo and asked "Mate?"

Ranma trembled violently and anger flashed in her eyes like lightning. "No, I thought she was my friend but she hurt me badly."

Mei whispered soft "I'm sorry." When she touched the second tattoo Ranma nodded a small affirmative.

"Come Ranma let's get you cleaned up and than you can have some hot food." Nami smiled as she wrapped her arms around the girl to lead her to the tub but Ranma had suddenly turned to dead weight as consciousness fled her and she collapsed into sleep once more.

Nami just smiled as the others helped her to the bench where she sat there holding the girl and rocking her gently.

Emi looked over at Mei and asked in a questioning tone "What's this about Amazons?"

Mei could only shake her head "I'm not sure what the whole story is or if what I think happened is really the truth. But Ranma seems to have been a slave or something in Hong Kong."

Nami nodded, this agreed with what she had thought.

Mei continued "Somehow her 'Master'," she spat the word out like it was poison "Died and she escaped but was hunted by others who wanted her." Mei reached out and touched the tattoos on Ranma's arm. "Somehow she wound up in the hands of the Chinese Amazons. This top tattoo marks her as the beloved property of someone. I can't make out the name."

"And the other one?" Shioko asked as she peered at the tattoos.

"It declares that she is the beloved life mate of someone named Lo Tan." Mei pointed to the smaller writing underneath the second tattoo "and that says 'I will love you forever my beloved'."

Mei glanced at Ranma's sleeping face "I think whoever Lo Tan is, she's dead now."

"Why do you think that Mei?" Emi asked.

"Because Amazons call those tattoos, soul marks, and are only used by those who feel a deep connection to their mates. It's like an eternal declaration of love and devotion."

Mei sighed "Once an Amazon gets a soul mark, they are inseparable from their mate. Only death can break such a bond."

Nami looked at the dark haired Mei and teased with a smile "And how would you know so much about such things?"

Mei gave a sad smile "Because my mother was an Amazon and had such a tattoo for my father. When he died in that car accident her heart broke and she died too."

Emi and Shioko wrapped their friend and sister in a hug to help comfort her as the tears slowly formed in her eyes.

Eventually Nami spoke up again "If the marks are so important why is the top one scarred like that?"

Mei looked over from the middle of the group hug and replied "Because the top one declares her as property which means that she was claimed by whoever put the tattoo on her. When Ranma broke free from this new owner she probably scarred herself to renounce the claim against her. Its not an easy thing to get away from such a claim, whoever claimed her must have done something terrible to her for the council to permit her to break the claim."

Nami spoke to the girls as she adjusted the sleeping one in her lap. "Fetch some wet wash cloths and some towels and we'll get the worse of the dirt off the poor girl. When she awakens we'll get her a proper bath and try to untangle this rat's nest she calls hair."

The maids giggled as they gathered the washcloths and some basins of warm water and began to wash the dirt of the past off their newest sister.

Nami looked over the sleeping face of the newest stray and could not help but feel her heart pull in sympathy for the girl. "To have been a slave twice and to have been hurt so bad while still so young." Hugging the girl in a firm and protective hug, Nami swore that this girl would finally be somewhere safe and nothing would bother her while she was at the mansion.

Wrapped in Nami's loving arms the sleeping Ranma whimpered softly.

Ranma stood looking all around her but all she saw was darkness. She wondered if grandfather was alright. She was trying to figure out where she was when suddenly a burst of multicolored light went off in her eyes and she felt herself being pulled deeper into the darkness.

Suddenly the darkness faded and Ranma found himself standing in a courtyard ringed by stone columns and having two great doorways of solid iron placed on opposite walls across from each other.

Ranma shivered as he recognized the place, it had been her own private Hell for over five months. It was the courtyard that led to the castle of Prince Herb of the Musk.

After Ranma had fled the Tendo dojo he had just ran off blindly into the night. He caught a ride on the first bullet train he found and never looked back. He knew that if his mother ever caught him, that he'd never have any control over his life ever again and the thought of being forced to be trained as some kind of demon hunting slut scared him.

He rode the train as far north as he could go then he worked whatever petty jobs he could find. He made extra money participating in underground fighting matches but took off running again after he had spotted Genma staggering out of local bar one night.

Ranma caught the first ship heading out of Japan and soon found himself in Hong Kong. Unfortunately Genma had made a lot of promises in Hong Kong, all of which he broke and one of the victims of Genma's swindles had recognized Ranma and with the help of an ambush and a load of drug darts, captured him.

Ranma awoke to the burning sensation of a bull whip lashing across his back and its leering user telling Ranma how he was going to make a fine slave. The user of the bullwhip reminded Ranma of a male version of Kodachi, that image made Ranma even more desperate to escape.

However, when Ranma's 'master' slid his hand down inside the front of Ranma's pants the boy exploded in a burst of blue energy, literally.

For the second time in his life, Ranma killed someone. Several some ones in fact for when Ranma had finished killing his 'master' Ranma proceeded to level the man's mansion to the ground, killing many of the man's guards and servants.

Unknown to Ranma, after his capture his 'master' had notified many of the other more unsavory victims of Genma to come join him at a party that evening to help break his new slave in. At the sight of the devastation Ranma had caused the guests summoned their own people in the hopes of capturing and controlling the boy's awesome power.

Ranma barely managed to escape from Hong Kong and he fled deeper into the Chinese country side. As if guided by some unseen force Ranma continued to run barely finding any time for food or rest as the searchers from Hong Kong were still on his trail.

Finally a group had Ranma cornered in a valley in the northern part of the area. Ranma chuckled at the irony, he was back at the Jusenkyo valley and the place where his life was ruined would now be the place his life would end for he would not allow himself to be captured again.

As Ranma charged at the group a shot rang out, despite the orders to capture Ranma alive one of the searchers had loaded live rounds instead of capture rounds into his rifle. The bullet caught Ranma in his left side just under his rib cage and passed through his body and out his back. He cried out in pain as he dropped to his knees clutching the freely bleeding wound. He fell forward as his world went dark, barely noticing the now muffled screams of pain coming from around him.

The last thing Ranma remembered seeing before the darkness claimed him was one of the searchers being held up in the air by a hand clasped around his throat. The hand belonged to a large figure of a man who seemed not to notice the weight of the man he was slowly strangling. Ranma noticed the feral almost animal like features of the man's face and the orange and black stripes on his body.

"He looks just like Lime." was the last thought Ranma had before his world went black.

Ranma awoke to find himself unable to move, he dimly realized that there were broad leather restraints holding his arms down and his legs as well. Fearing that he had been recaptured Ranma began to panic and struggle against his bonds when suddenly a familiar voice filled his ears.

"Be at rest Saotome, you are fairly safe here." The voice sneered in a playful manner.

Looking towards the voice Ranma's eyes widened as he saw a powerfully built man standing there clad in armor that looked like scales and with long tricolored hair flowing from his head.

"Herb." Was all Ranma could mutter.

"Indeed Ranma, we meet again." Herb gave a smile that was barely warm "As you can see, I have fully recovered from our last meeting."

"You just let me out of these things and I'll be happy to remedy that situation." Ranma snarled at the bemused looking Dragon prince.

"As much as I would relish a rematch Ranma," Herb grinned at the spirit in Ranma "You are simply in no condition for it. And stop struggling; you'll reopen your wound."

"Wound?" Ranma's eyes opened wide "Those men, they shot me; they wanted to take me back to Hong Kong."

"Just what did you do to make them so angry at you Saotome?" Herb was still grinning "Your evil ways catching up to you at last?"

"My idiot father's ways more like it." Ranma sighed as he lay back down on the bed.

"Care to tell me why the dozen or so men the Musk left dead back in the valley were after you?" Herb asked.

"Why? So you can get a cheap laugh at my misery?" Ranma snarled.

"Believe it or not Saotome; I actually do respect you as a skilled warrior." Herb calmed Ranma as he pulled up a chair which he sat in while he checked the wound in Ranma's side. "So feel free to speak while I make sure you haven't reopened this wound."

Ranma winced as Herb's fingers poked his injury "You're enjoying doing that way too much Herb."

Herb only laughed so Ranma began to tell him about everything that had happened since they had last met.

Herb looked up in surprise when Ranma mentioned Jusendo "So the rumors are true, it was you who killed Saffron?"

Ranma winced and nodded.

"I am impressed Saotome, you have grown powerful since our last meeting." Herb replaced the bandage satisfied that Ranma had not reopened anything. "So, still have your gender curse?"

"Please Herb-san," Herb noticed the addition of the honorific to his name with some concern "Please don't call me Saotome any more, I have left my family behind and I no longer wish to be called by that name."

At that Herb raised an eyebrow "Left your family, have you? I thought family was a major thing for you Japanese."

"Normally it is, family honor is something I've always strived to protect." Ranma said, the hurt and anger showing in his voice "But not any more. They wanted to take away my freedom, to force me to become something I'd rather not be."

"Was it really something so bad Sao…er Ranma?" Herb inquired.

"Bad enough that I gave up everything to avoid it." Ranma whispered softly 'and yes, I still have my stupid curse."

"Enough talk for now, you must rest." Herb stood up "If you promise to behave and not try anything stupid I'll order your restraints removed."

Herb walked over to the door and looked back at his reluctant patient "Please trust me Ranma, I truly respect you and I wish only to help you recover."

Herb proved true to his word and over the next few weeks Ranma slowly regained his strength. Herb had proved to be a fine companion and would often walk around with Ranma telling him stories and legends of the Musk.

Ranma had just finished a kata, one of his more basic ones, after not being allowed to do any kind of physical activity for the last four weeks the basics were all he had the strength for, and was sitting up along the battlements of the outer wall enjoying the feeling of the wind across his face when he felt something cold and wet splash across his back.

Ranma turned her head quickly as she felt the tingle that always accompanied her change. As she turned she found herself staring at Herb and the ladle in his hand still dripping water. Her eyes widened as she identified the magic Ladle of Preservation and knew that Herb had locked her into her cursed form.

"Why?" was all her trembling voice could ask.

Herb looked at her and Ranma saw that there was no hatred, no malice in his eyes. Instead she saw what could be called by some as desperate longing and perhaps even desire.

"I thought it would be obvious Ranma. I am the last prince of the Musk and I need to sire an heir." Herb said in a gentle voice as he wrapped a soft towel around her trembling form "Who in this valley would be worthy to be the mother of my children? One of the Phoenix perhaps? No, they are even less human than us Musk. One of those Amazon cows perhaps? Never, they are barely even civilized."

Herb placed a hand under Ranma's chin and gently but firmly turned her head until her gaze was locked with his.

"No Ranma, only you are truly worthy of being my bride, of becoming the Musk Princess." Herb spoke the words in a soft tone and even the naïve Ranma could hear the sincerity in his voice. "You are beautiful, skilled and honorable and believe it or not you do have a very intelligent mind."

Herb smiled as he said this but Ranma only shot him a dark stare as Herb continued. "Only you have the true spirit of a warrior. I wasn't lying to you Ranma when I said that I respect you nor am I lying now when I tell you that ever since our last meeting, I have been in love with you, with your spirit and your energy and how you never gave up no matter how things went against you. You have captured my heart my beautiful Ranma, now I wish to capture yours."

Ranma tore his eyes away from Herb's and stammered "But I'm a guy."

Herb smirked as he held up the ladle "I seem to have taken care of that little detail."

Ranma stood up and turned towards Herb with a snarl on her face and in her voice. "Damn it Herb, you know how the curse works! I'm only a girl on the outside; inside I'm still a guy. Look, you may like this stupid body of mine but I don't. Hell, I don't even know how to act as a girl."

Ranma got right into the face of Herb, "You better have some way to unlock this curse of mine or things are going to get ugly real quick."

Herb stared back into Ranma's deep blue eyes "Give it up Ranma, even if I unlock your curse what will you do? The valley is surrounded by lots of those men that chased you from Hong Kong and even if you get through them and return to Japan then you run the risk of your family finding you and making you become whatever it is you fear so much."

At Herb's words all Ranma could do was back away and lean against the wall, a look of infinite sadness on her face.

The look on Ranma's face almost broke the Musk Prince's heart and he went and knelt down beside the girl wrapping his cloak around her shoulders "Stay with me Ranma, be my Queen, my warrior queen."

A very brief smile flashed across Ranma's face at those words and Herb continued "All that awaits you outside of these walls is pain and fear but inside with me is only peace and safety and security and all my love."

Ranma's mind was in torment, he knew very well what was waiting for him outside of the valley. He knew that his life would be one of constant running and paranoia and yet while he did desire the things that Herb was offering, he refused to surrender himself to Herb.

Ranma stood up and pushed the stunned prince away from her. "How dare you," she screamed at him "You offer me friendship but the moment my guard is down you do this to me." She waved her hands down her body "You offer me safety and security yet you destroy my trust in you? I'd rather take my chances outside of the valley."

Ranma sneered as Herb regained his feet "Now unlock this curse you bastard and let me go."

Herb was not surprised by Ranma's response, he knew that she was too strong willed but he had hoped that given her situation that she would have at least considered his offer but he was far from ready to give up.

"You want the curse unlocked Ranma?" Herb watched as Ranma nodded "Then you have to earn the cure."

"Earn it in what way Herb?" Ranma asked "I won't be your sex toy nor will I let you get me pregnant."

"I would never treat you as my toy sweet Ranma," Herb smiled back at her "And I would prefer that our children be conceived in mutually shared love."

Herb walked over to Ranma and pulled his cloak tighter around her, protecting her from the evening chill that was forming. "My terms are this; One: You will spend the mornings learning from the musk wives all you need about behaving as a girl and about your duties as queen. Two: In the afternoon you will study and practice with my weapons masters as an important part of your duty will be defending our people. Finally Three: Once a week you may challenge me to a fight, win and the cure and freedom are yours, however, yield or lose the fight and you must immediately take your place by my side as my queen.

Herb turned Ranma to face him "Those are my terms Ranma, I'll accept no others. Of course you could always just walk out the gates at anytime, my soldiers won't try to stop you, but if you do that you'll never get the cure. Or you could simply agree at any time to accept my love and be my queen"

Ranma stood as his thoughts whirled a mile a minute through his brain, he knew what Herb was planning. He was hoping that by making Ranma learn to be a girl that he would accept it and would give himself to the curse and become a girl completely. And while he knew he would learn much from the weapons masters he knew that the training would be difficult and tiring and perhaps cause Ranma to weaken and to yield simply to be finished with the torture.

But Ranma would not give in to Herb. To Ranma, Herb was treating him just as his mother had; he was trying to mold Ranma into something that Ranma had no desire to be. Ranma would not allow this; he would defeat Herb and regain his true form.

"I accept your terms Herb; I will become a guy again." Ranma flung Herb's cloak back at him and stalked back to her room leaving the prince smiling.

"There is the spirit that captured my heart." Herb grinned "I'm sorry that you will fail my love, but you will be happy as my queen, and a very powerful one you'll be too."

The next five months were pure hell for Ranma, she was right about the weapons training and it was every bit the torture that she had thought it would be. Every evening she would drag herself back to her room after training and dinner where her maids would have a hot bath waiting for her. After a long soak she went straight to bed only to be awakened in the morning to face a far greater torture.

Girl Training.

Ranma had always suspected that there was more to being a girl than she had thought but it was only now that she was finding out just how badly she had miscalculated. She had to endure learning to walk like a girl and how to talk in a feminine manner. She had to learn how to carry herself in a manner befitting a queen. The worse parts however were learning about how to put on make up properly and when her instructors decided that she needed training in the bedroom arts as well. That particular training lesson lasted all of about ten minutes before Ranma exploded in rage and destroyed everything in the room with ki blast after ki blast.

Herb was concerned when he had heard about Ranma's rampage and more than a bit bothered when the slightly singed musk wives said that all they were doing was trying to instruct Ranma on how to make love properly and on how to give maximum pleasure. Surely his future wife and mother of his children would not be so angry about learning something so natural?

Every time he had broached the subject Ranma would get angry. So one night, even if it was considered a breach of protocol, Herb arranged to have something special added to Ranma's evening meal. "Besides," Herb thought to himself "Consummating our relationship will make it easier for Ranma to accept her new life."

That evening Herb sat amazed that Ranma had shown no reaction what so ever to the drugs that now heavily laced her meal. After Ranma had excused herself and returned to her room to prepare for bed Herb had questioned his cooks who had promised on their lives that the required drugs had in fact been placed into her food. Herb even had a musk maid use the hidden peek holes to look into Ranma's room and watch her for any sign of passion or desire. But the maid had seen nothing.

This had Herb perplexed, could it be that his wife was immune to such drugs, or worse simply unable to feel sexual desire? How could she bear his children if she felt no urge to mate with him?

Herb tried over the next few months to get any kind of sexual reaction from Ranma, he used everything from drugs to pheromones to graphic images and stories and the only reaction he ever got from Ranma was anger.

Then just after Ranma's fifth month in the Musk castle it happened. Once a week for four months Herb and Ranma met in a duel and every time it was a draw by double knockout. The fights were so even in fact that the castle staff had a betting pool on whether Ranma would yield or just walk away out of the castle gates before she defeated Herb.

On this particular fight Ranma was feeling different, maybe it was her anger at all the sex stuff they had been trying to force on her the last while. Maybe it was the way that Herb kept taunting her, telling her that this night would be her last night as a virgin. Maybe it was just the fact that Ranma was going stir crazy from being locked up in this stupid castle for almost half a year. Whatever was the cause, the results were certainly unexpected.

Ranma won.

Not only did Ranma win, she practically destroyed Herb. The Musk were scrambling for safe places to hide when Ranma's usual blue aura turned deep purple and grew in intensity, even Herb had taken a few steps back as he felt it wash over him.

Ranma stood there, her breath coming in quick shallow pants. Her aura of purple swirled and boiled around her like the clouds of some horrific storm. She spoke up in a voice barely a whisper and yet it seemed to fill every part of the courtyard. "Tonight Herb, you will return to me what you stole and you will give me back my freedom."

With her fists wrapped up in glowing balls of deep purple Ranma leaped towards the Dragon Prince. In a few seconds Ranma's chestnut fists had reduced the mighty Musk prince to a quivering mass of pained flesh. A still glowing Ranma marched over and reached into the pile and pulled Herb up by his battered scaled shirt.

"Now you WILL unlock my curse and let me go." There was no mistaking the menace in Ranma's voice.

Herb gave a wheezing pained laugh "Surely you know Ranma that only the Kettle can reverse the effects of the ladle and it was destroyed by me after I cured my own curse with it. I had hoped that you would just accept my love and enjoy our life together but apparently I was wrong."

With a scream of rage Ranma hurled Herb's body against a back wall with such force that the wall collapsed into a pile of rubble on top of the prince. Ranma's aura went from purple to almost black as it sprang up around her again and she proceeded to destroy the castle that had been her prison for so long.

On a hill top several miles away a group of figures stood watching the flashes of light that came from the place where their most hated enemy lived.

"Oh Great Grandmother, there is much power being unleashed over at Herb's castle." A tall beautiful woman with long flowing lavender hair spoke as she looked at a small very wrinkled old woman balanced on top of a gnarled wooden staff.

The old woman nodded and thought to herself. "It seems as if Herb has finally bit off more than he can chew and is taking a real beating." Loud booms began to be heard coming from the direction of lights.

"I think the Musk Prince has met his end, Shan Pu." She spoke to the lavender haired girl "Take your war band and check it out, see if you can learn what has happened."

"Yes Elder." The girl answered and soon she and the other girls with her were running across the valley floor.

Elder Khu Lon watched as the girls faded from view and stood there watching as the lights and booms faded away. Something powerful was unleashed by the Musk prince and the Elder hoped that it would simply just go away after it had finished with the Musk.

"Still," She pondered "There was something awfully familiar in that light show."

She turned and pogo'd back to her village.

Shan Pu and the rest of her war band slowed a couple of hours later as they neared the entrance to the Musk castle. Even though they had seen no one since they crossed the boarder and approached the castle, the occasional flash of purple light and loud boom made them very cautious.

As they approached they saw that the heavy iron doors of the front gate were now flung open and barely hanging by a hinge. It seemed to Shan Pu that they had been forced open from the inside. Whatever had done that must have been terribly powerful and now it seems like it had escaped.

Shan Pu's musings were interrupted by a fellow warrior who nudged her "Hey Kitty Girl, I think we have a body."

Shan Pu stuck her tongue out at her best friend Han Tao; she was the only one who could get away with joking about Shan Pu's curse.

Shan Pu trotted behind Han Tao and noticed what appeared to be a body lying face up be the side of the road. What caught Shan Pu's attention was the bright copper red hair the girl had.

"No, it couldn't be." Shan Pu said to herself in a low tone as she began to run towards the girl "After all this time."

Shan Pu dropped to her knees as she looked over the girl. There they were all the little scars that he had received from the nekoken training. She saw several more familiar scars and with a look of a small part pain and a lot of surprised joy she scooped the girl's body into her arms and cried out "AIREN!!"

Han Tao watched as the emotions played over her friend's face. When she heard Shan Pu's cry of Airen Han Tao gave a start, could this battered girl truly be Shan Pu's legendary husband?

Another Amazon, this one with a long lanky body of a runner with long green hair approached Han Tao and spoke with dread in her soft voice.

"Han Tao, we have searched the castle, there is nothing in there but bodies and debris. Whatever did this was truly powerful."

Han Tao could only nod her head as she turned to face her fellow Amazon and raising her right hand to point at the red haired girl held tight in Shan Pu's embrace. "If what Shan Pu has told me in the past is true, I think that girl is the one who did all this."

Before the warrior could respond another girl came running from the castle crying out in joy. "Han Tao! Shan Pu! It's glorious!" The girl cried out as she tossed something silver at Han Tao.

Han Tao caught the object and inspected it. It appeared to be a large ring made of silver with a few gems decorating it. Han snorted at the ring as she looked at it until she turned it in her hand and noticed a well known and hated crest on the other side, the crest of Prince Herb.

Han Tao looked at the heavily breathing girl "If this is the signet ring of Herb than he must be…" the question faded unfinished.

The girl gave Han a broad smile "Dead? Yep, I pulled that from his cold body, or at least what was left of it."

Shan Pu looked up from her unconscious airen and smiled "This is indeed great news, we must tell the Elders." She looked over at her friend "Han Tao, have the team build a litter, we need to take Ranma with us. Great Grandmother will be happy to see him again."

Within the hour the Amazons were running back across the valley, back to the safety of the village. Shan Pu was well pleased, not only because she came bearing the news and proof of Herb's demise but also because she was finally bringing her airen home.

Ranma moaned slightly as she regained consciousness, the pain in her head was almost unbearable. She became aware that she was moving, apparently being carried in some kind of litter.

"Shan Pu, She is waking up." Ranma heard a strange voice say. The voice said a name that Ranma could not quite put a finger on. Just as she recalled the owner of the mysterious name a now very familiar voice came from beside her, speaking in broken Japanese barely any better from the last time Ranma had seen the voice's owner.

"Airen wake up now is too too good. You have Shampoo very much worry."

Ranma looked up and into the beautiful lavender eyes of an attractive young Amazon warrior with long hair the same color of her eyes. It had been several months since she had last seen the Amazon and there was much she wanted to say but before she could start she felt waves of wariness crash over her drowning her in the urge to sleep. The last clear thing she heard was Shan Pu's voice.

"Is ok Airen, you sleep now, we almost home."

When Ranma awoke again, she was lying in a soft bed snuggled warmly under the covers. She felt rested but she noticed that she had an almost burning pain on her right upper arm. When she looked she saw that the discomfort was caused by the elegant tattoo that now graced her arm. It seemed to be some kind of Chinese writing but she could not read it.

The next several weeks went by in a blur for Ranma. It seemed as if she was constantly in a meeting with the high council or proving herself in one challenge after another and then there were the long nights where she stayed up talking to Elder Khu Lon and learning all that she could teach her.

Her first meeting with the council allowed her to prove her identity and she told why she had fled Japan and how she came to be found outside of Herb's castle. With her curse now locked and based on all she had done in aiding the village she was granted full warrior status and was to be known in the village as Shan Pu's lifemate.

They shared a happy life and built a fine home together, Ranma was happy to let Shan Pu step up and take on the role as the head of the house and Ranma did her very best to make Shan Pu proud of her and to give her mate a fine household.

Ranma brought an energy and special air about her that made her rather popular in the village, in no time her fellow Amazons had stopped calling her "Shan Pu's mate" and began calling her simply 'Ranma'. She was full of life and the passion she showed in learning and doing every lesson she had been taught made her even more beautiful and respected in the village. Everyone agreed that Shan Pu was certainly very lucky to have such a wonderful airen.

Everyone that is except Shan Pu.

At first her new life with Ranma was everything that she had dreamt it would be. Ranma had proven to be a wonderful mate and was so filled with caring and concern for Shan Pu that the Amazon girl was content to simply bask in her warm glow.

As the days went by the village had warmed up to Ranma and had fully accepted her as one of their own.

It was this acceptance that sowed the seeds of discontent in Shan Pu's heart. Once, Shan Pu had been the center of the village's attention and praise. She was idolized by the younger warriors of the village and she was proud of being the village champion.

However, Ranma had taken all of that away. The new warriors now went to Ranma for advice and Ranma had begun to take over command of the village defenses as Shan Pu was busy receiving training from Khu Lon on the ways of diplomacy and statecraft to prepare her for the day that Shan Pu would replace her as the clan matriarch.

When rumors began to circulate through the village that Ranma was going to be offered the chance to become the apprentice to the current tribal war mistress, a chance that all but guaranteed that Ranma herself would one day become the new war mistress, a position second in power only to the council of Elders, Shan Pu's jealousy and envy began to boil over.

The thing that really bothered Shan Pu the most was that when you saw Ranma out in the village doing the things she loved, her face and especially her eyes were filled with a brilliant energy of burning passion, the kind of passion that Shan Pu never got to see at home. It always seemed to Shan Pu that whenever she had tried to get intimate with Ranma, her Airen would seem indifferent and show no reaction at all despite Shan Pu trying every trick she could come up with to try and get a response out of Ranma.

Finally after four months of Ranma's apparent rejection of Shan Pu's affections, it all came to a boil. Shan Pu had finally been able to get in a weapons practice that truly tested her skills and she was overflowing with the raw energy that comes from pushing oneself at something that one enjoyed doing. Needless to say, Shan Pu was feeling frisky when she arrived back at the house she shared with her Airen. And while Ranma had certainly greeted her with the proper amount of joy and even kissed her, Ranma failed to react as Shan Pu ran her hands up under Ranma's shirt and began to knead her breasts.

No matter where Shan Pu kissed her or how she touched her, Ranma simply would not utter a single sound that would indicate that she was feeling anything pleasurable at all. In fact, when Shan Pu looked up from her place between Ranma's firm breasts she saw on Ranma's face not the look of one in ecstasy's grip but instead Ranma had a look of boredom as if she was simply humoring Shan Pu by letting her feel her up.

Ranma was standing there with her eyes closed wishing that she could feel the desire that Shan Pu so desperately wanted her to feel. Ranma could feel Shan Pu's lips and fingers move across her skin but she felt nothing but the pressure of the fingers on her skin. There was no tingle or teasing, Ranma simply felt only the touch not the passion.

With her eyes closed Ranma never saw the look of anger that slammed down on Shan Pu's face nor did she see the fist that slammed into the side of her head. She never saw any of the other punches and kicks that Shan Pu rained in on her. Ranma only kept her eyes tightly closed as she prayed for the assault to stop.

Ranma felt herself thrown across the room only to land harshly on the bed she shared with Shan Pu, the girl that Ranma considered her closest friend and savior. As she landed roughly on the bed the barrage of slaps and punches continued to cover her from head to toe. It was only after the blows had stopped for several seconds and she heard the sound of Shan Pu breathing heavily did Ranma manage to open one rapidly swelling eye.

Her breath fled as she saw Shan Pu standing at her feet, her friend's eyes seemed glazed and Ranma noticed that Shan Pu had one of her bonbori in her hand. Then she noticed that Shan Pu was holding the weapon backwards, her grip down by the head of the weapon leaving Ranma to stare at the slightly rounded end of the shaft which bobbed up and down before her eyes.

Ranma's eyes widened with terror as she watched Shan Pu kneel between her legs and realized what her mate was about to do with the bonbori.

With a sudden thrust, the handle of the bonbori invaded Ranma's battered body and she did the only thing she could do.

She screamed.

Ranma's screams slashed through the village like the edge of a knife, immediately everyone who had heard them knew that they were not screams of pleasure but were instead screams of deep soul shattering pain.

Han Tao was among the first warriors to have traced the screams to Shan Pu's house and she kicked the door in expecting the worse. She was not prepared at all for the sight that greeted her.

Shampoo stood in the middle of the room holding her bonbori, the shaft of which was thickly covered in blood. Han Tao flinched at the grim look in her friend's eyes.

"Shan Pu!" Han Tao called out to her friend "What has happened?"

"Nothing Han Tao." Shan Pu replied, her voice oddly distant "I was just reminding my Airen that she belongs to me and no other."

By this time other Amazons had entered the house and a small looking sister named Lo Tan called out to Han Tao.

"Sister! Send for the healer, Ranma is hurt badly!"

Han Tao sent one sister off to get the village healer and than ran to the bedroom where Lo Tan had called out from. There she stopped in her tracks as she approached the bed and her breath seemed to freeze in her chest.

There lay Ranma, her body one big mass of rapidly developing bruises, scratches and bite marks. Both of her eyes were swelling shut and her lips were split and blood trickled from her nose. But it was the overwhelming amount of blood that was pooling even as Han Tao watched between Ranma's legs that truly upset the Amazon warrior.

Han Tao stood as her blood turned to ice water. She was no fool; from Ranma's appearance to the bloody bonbori in Shan Pu's hand it was obvious to Han Tao that her best friend had just broken the most sacred of all Amazon rules. Rape was the most hated of crimes to the Amazons and for an Amazon to rape another Amazon was the worst of all crimes.

Han Tao stormed back out to stand before her friend who was still standing there with a smug look on her face. Han Tao's right hand lashed out at Shan Pu's wrist causing her to drop the bonbori while her left hand snaked out and hit several pressure points on Shan Pu's body causing her body to freeze up and become immobile.

Han Tao reached out and grabbed a handful of lavender hair, pulling it back hard and forcing Shan Pu to look up into her eyes.

"In the name of the Council of Elders, I, Han Tao arrest you Shan Pu for the crime of Rape against an Amazon sister." Then she drew back her fist and slammed it into Shan Pu's jaw dropping her one time friend like a stone.

"Take this scum out of here and chain her up in the Hole until the council decides to judge her fate." Several Amazons grabbed the stunned Shan Pu and hauled her away past several Elders who had just arrived, including Elder Khu Lon.

"What is going on here Han Tao?" Khu Lon demanded an answer "And why is Shan Pu being arrested?"

At this the healer had arrived and as Han Tao was leading her to the bedroom she looked over her shoulder and called back to Khu Lon "Follow me Elder and you shall see the truth."

The Elders followed Han Tao quickly and as they entered the room the sight of Ranma's battered body left no doubt as to either the crime or of Shan Pu's guilt.

"Kuso!" was all that Khu Lon could say as the healer knelt down beside Ranma and began to inspect her injuries.

"How is she, Mi Li?" Han Tao asked the healer, the tone of her voice showing the concern she was feeling for her injured sister.

The healer stood up as she finished her examination "I will not lie to you, she is hurt badly and I will need to sedate her so that I may sew up the tear that Shan Pu had created with her bonbori. I will need several sisters to help carry her back to the healing house so that I may treat her."

Han Tao and several others quickly gained hand holds on the blanket that Ranma was lying on and as gently as they could they lifted her up and carried her to the healing house.

Another Elder hopped up to Khu Lon and spoke up with grave seriousness in her voice. "There is no doubt as to what Shan Pu has done this evening." Khu Lon only nodded her head slowly. "You know the punishment for the crime she has committed."

Khu Lon sighed "Yes I do and even I will admit that it is deserved. I hope that Shan Pu's actions have not done any damage to Ranma's spirit but I fear that it has."

Back at the healing house, the Amazons laid Ranma down on a padded table and respectfully withdrew from the room leaving Han Tao to watch as Mi Li began to set out the things she would need to repair the damage that Shan Pu had done.

Han Tao could only stare at Ranma's battered body and marvel at the damage done. "Damn you Shan Pu!" Han Tao cursed silently "How could you do this?"

Han Tao watched as Mi Li set several jars onto a table next to where Ranma lay. "I'm going to place some slumber paste just under her nose," Mi Li explained to Han Tao as she spread a line of thick bluish paste along Ranma's upper lip "This will put her in a deep sleep which will allow me to sew up the tear in her vagina wall."

However, no sooner had Ranma taken a few breaths after the paste was applied that she began to turn bright red and began shaking in ever more growing wild spastic flailing of her arms.

"Quick Han Tao! Grab onto her arms!" Mi Li shouted as she tried to hold onto the arm closest to her only to be flung off and sent crashing through a nearby bench.

Han Tao raced to try and restrain Ranma while other Amazons, attracted by the noise, burst into the room. "Grab her arms and legs Sisters!" Han Tao called out her orders "Ting Ting, check on Mi Li, and see if she is alright. Lo Tan, go get Elder Khu Lon, now girl!"

As Lo Tan ran from the room to retrieve the named Elder, Ting Ting hurried over and helped a still shaking Mi Li up to her feet. Than Mi Li ran to Ranma and began wiping the paste off of her lip with a rag.

"What's happening, Mi Li?" Han Tao called out as she and the other sisters struggled to keep their grip on Ranma's arms and legs.

Mi Li shook her head as she continued trying to remove the paste "I'm not sure, I think she's having a reaction to the slumber paste, but I've never seen one this severe before."

Han Tao grunted as Ranma had almost managed to dislodge her from her arm. "Damn, it's too easy to forget just how strong sister Ranma truly is when you see her small frame."

Ting Ting added her weight to Ranma's arm, helping Han Tao to get the appendage back under control. "That is true sister, she is even smaller than little Lo Tan and yet she tosses even the massive Do Wei around like a child's doll."

All the Amazons smiled and a few even grinned, everyone of them now trying to hold Ranma still had first hand experience of being tossed by Ranma.

Soon Lo Tan and Elder Khu Lon came into the room followed by several other Elders.

"Mi Li!" Khu Lon snapped "What is happening?"

"Ranma seems to be having a reaction to the slumber paste, but by the Goddess, I've never seen one so strong. I'm trying to remove the paste as well as I can." Mi Li replied as she kept trying to wipe off the thick greasy paste.

Khu Lon called back as she began searching through Mi Li's jars of ingredients and salves. "Have you any lime or lemon juice Child?"

Mi Li replied "There is a jar on the counter by the cooking fire."

Khu Lon retrieved the jar and then hopped over next to Mi Li. She then held up a rag and pored some of the juice on to it. "The juice helps to dissolve the paste making it easier to remove." The Elder removed the rest of the paste and then to everyone's amazement pinched Ranma's nose closed. Before anyone could say anything Ranma took several deep breathes through her open mouth which caused her skin color to return to its normal creamy white and she seemed to quit thrashing and drifted off to sleep.

"Now Mi Li, you may proceed to repair the damage that Shan Pu has done this evening." Khu Lon ordered.

The healer nodded as she gathered her instruments and prepared to sew up the tears in Ranma's body.

"Elder, I've never seen so strong a reaction to the slumber paste before." Mi Li spoke up as she threaded a fine needle and leaned down towards the injury and began to stitch it closed.

"Indeed Mi Li, it was far from the usual reaction." Khu Lon agreed as she pulled up Ranma's left eyelid. Judging by the string of Chinese curse words the Elder did not like what she saw.

"Is there a problem Elder?" Han Tao asked her in a worried voice.

Khu Lon pointed at the brown spots that appeared on the whites of Ranma's eye "There is the cause of the reaction," she tersely replied "Jakavi root and judging by the spots the girl has been exposed to it for a long time."

Mi Li looked up from where she was working "Jakavi Root Elder? I am not familiar with that one."

Khu Lon nodded "As well you shouldn't be Mi Li; it isn't one that we use in the village very often. In fact, I think that the only source of it here in the village is in the hands of Do Wei who handles the unclaimed males."

The Elder began looking over the various bottles and containers that Mi Li had on her many shelves and she continued to speak "It is used to suppress sexual desires. We use it on unruly males who need to learn a lesson. It's not very common outside of China though so I'm not sure how Ranma got exposed to it and for so long an amount of time."

Ting Ting piped in "I've heard that some monasteries use it to help their monks keep their vows." She smiled as she said it as did the others in the room.

Khu Lon suddenly yelled out "Of Course!" and startled everyone in the room except for Mi Li who was too busy concentrating on her work to notice. "Ranma and her father traveled through out China for years going to different places to train in the martial arts. I bet the foolish male got hold of some Jakavi Root at one of them and began giving it to Ranma when puberty set in, can't have your student distracted by such things as pretty girls."

Shaking her head Khu Lon continued to look among the various jars and flasks that Mi Li had in her hut "Judging by the spots Ranma has been under its effects for a while now. Let see Huka leaves, where are those leaves?"

"Huka leaves Elder?" Mi LI asked as she began to finish sewing up Ranma's wound.

"Yes Child, Huka leaves." Khu Lon smiled as she found the jar containing the leaves. "Normally we crush them and mix them with honey to help keep wounds from getting infected, but when you steep them in hot water and drink them as a tea they act as a counter to Jakavi root."

Khu Lon set the jar on the table and hopped over and watched as Mi Li tied the final knot on her sewing job. "I figure that if Ranma drinks the Huka leaf tea for a while it'll purge the Jakavi root from her system and allow her libido to be restored to normal, or at least as normal as it can be considering her long term exposure to the Jakavi root. It'll probably make her sicker than a dog for a few days at first."

Mi Li nodded as she stood up and began to place the used needle in a cleaning tray and put away the extra thread "We should give her a few days to recover before we start her on the Huka leaf tea."

Khu Lon nodded in agreement "Of course Child, we'll let the poor dear get her strength back somewhat before we begin."

Han Tao who had been listening to the conversation suddenly spoke up "You say that Sister Ranma has been under the effects of Jakavi root for a while? Than that would mean that..." Han Tao smiled grimly as her voice faded away.

"Mean what Han Tao?" Khu Lon inquired.

"Since her return, Shan Pu has done nothing but brag about how wonderful a lover her Airen was." Han Tao's grin faded away "In fact she constantly rubbed it in our faces, but if Ranma is unable to feel sexual desire than Shan Pu has been lying to us all along."

Khu Lon stroked her chin "As far as I can tell, Ranma has never shown any form of sexual desire towards anyone let alone Shan Pu. That is the main reason we returned to the village, that her claim of marriage to Ranma was unconsummated."

Han Tao pointed at the tattoo on Ranma's arm "Then perhaps Shan Pu is lying about that as well."

Khu Lon looked at the tattoo as if seeing it for the first time "When did Ranma get this? I've never heard either of them mention it before; usually getting such a mark is a cause for celebration."

A look of annoyance flashed across her face "Although I can not see Ranma allowing her self to be declared anyone's property."

"I saw Shan Pu putting that on Ranma's arm the night we brought her to the village from Herb's castle." Han Tao replied, a somewhat grim tone finding its way into her voice "Shan Pu said that she and Ranma agreed to the soul mark before the two of you returned to the village."

At this Ting Ting piped in "Indeed, she often said that Ranma had stayed behind in Japan to complete some dangerous mission but had vowed to return to Shan Pu when Ranma had finished."

"It seems as if Shan Pu has much to answer for to the Council." Khu Lon said with a cold tone in her voice.

Mi Li interrupted the conversation as she stepped forward "Please, let's just put Ranma on one of the beds in the resting room and I'll watch over her while the rest of you finish your conversation outside."

Khu Lon gave the healer a small smile "Of course Child, Han Tao you and the others please take Ranma to the resting room than meet with me by the great fire in the center of the village."

"At once Elder." Han Tao answered as she and the other warriors present gently lifted and moved Ranma to a waiting bed and then left the Healing House and headed towards the village center.

As Khu Lon was preparing to leave she noticed the depressed look on Mi Li's face. "What is wrong Mi Li?" she asked the girl with concern in her voice.

"I should have known Elder, about the Jakavi root, how to remove the slumber paste." Mi Li began to tremble "My ignorance almost cost the tribe a great warrior."

Khu Lon reached up and placed a comforting hand on Mi Li's shoulder "Nonsense Mi Li how could you have known?" she consoled the grieving healer "as I said, Jakavi root is almost unheard of here in the village so how could you know what signs to look for or what side effects it may have?"

"No Child, you did an admirable job, you are a fine healer and you bring much honor to your clan. In truth, you certainly saved Ranma's life tonight." Khu Lon gave the healer a reassuring smile "Tell you what, since I will be here often to look after my Granddaughter, why don't I bring over some of my scrolls and books on herbalism and we'll go over them together?"

Mi Li gave the smiling Elder a brief look of disbelief quickly followed by a glowing smile of joyous pride "It would be an honor to learn from you Elder Khu Lon." Mi Li gave Khu Lon a deep bow causing the Elder to chuckle.

"No need for that Child." Khu Lon waved the girl to stand upright "It is after all my duty to ensure that those in positions of responsibility are as well trained as possible. Besides, it'll be pleasant to talk herbs with someone again, and I don't think that there will much pleasance in the weeks to come."

Mi Li nodded in understanding "I'm sorry about what happened tonight, two great warriors were lost tonight, I'm sure that Ranma will overcome this, she has a strong warrior spirit."

Khu Lon gave the healer a look of deep sadness, her eyes showing every one of her three hundred years of age "Let me tell you a secret Child, just between us." Mi Li quickly nodded in agreement.

"It is true that Ranma has great warrior spirit, but what many do not know is that Ranma has been badly abused most of her life by almost everyone around her." Khu Lon's eyes began to shimmer with the gathering of tears "Including myself. While her warrior spirit is strong, her personal spirit, her sense of self is tattered and in shreds. The real reason Shan Pu and myself returned to the village was that Ranma was on the verge of a nervous breakdown and was about ready to slip into a very dark insanity at any time. I figured that we could help the child best by simply leaving Japan and no longer adding to the chaos that was Ranma's life at the time."

Khu Lon flashed a brief smile "Of course the fact that when Ranma finally would have snapped that she would have most probably destroyed most of Nerima before enough combatants could arrive to stop her, probably killing thousands in the process, was also a bit of a consideration."

Mi Li gasped at that declaration "Is Ranma truly so powerful? She seems too small to hold such power."

Khu Lon continued her smile "Trust me Mi Li, that little warrior killed Herb and Saffron, tasks that our entire village could not hope to accomplish. She is very powerful but she holds that power within herself by will power and self determination alone, I'm afraid that what Shan Pu has done this night may erode those things to the point where Ranma will no longer be able to contain her power anymore."

The Elder's face turned to cold stone "If that happens, then Ranma will become as an Angel of Destruction, destroying all she sees and I wonder if anyone could stop her."

Mi LI's face lost all its color as Khu Lon's words struck her "But how can we help her recover from this?"

"Do you know what Ranma truly wants Child?" Khu Lon asked the ashen healer who shakily swiveled her head in a no gesture "She desperately wants, no needs actually, real friends, a real family. She wants to be truly loved for who she is, not for what she can be worth to someone."

"Tell me Mi Li," Khu Lon locked eyes with the still pale healer "Knowing everything I have just told you, could you be her friend? Or perhaps even her lover?"

'I don't know Elder," Mi Li stammered slightly "I think I can be her friend, she has always been nice to me whenever she has seen me, but as a lover? I just don't know." She bowed her head in shame.

"Now you know why you must never tell anyone what I have told you this night." Khu Lon sighed as she faced the doorway leading to the resting room. "I will continue to treat her as my granddaughter, to be honest, over the years I've come to accept her as part of my clan so I can easily see her as my own flesh and blood. Besides, she has brought me more joy and happiness than even Shan Pu has over the years."

"As for friends, like you said, Ranma is very nice; she has a gentle soul and an easy going nature. As long as no one learns of her true power she will have no problems having friends." Khu Lon smiled softly before sighing once more "Sometimes I fear that the poor child is doomed to spend her life alone. It will take a very special soul. Someone with a strong spirit that can truly love Ranma and help rebuild her personal spirit."

Khu Lon leaped to the top of her staff and stopped just before she left the Healing House and turned her head to face the healer "Fear not Mi LI, Ranma is not some kind of bomb or monster just waiting for a chance to unleash her destruction on the world. She is simply a very powerful but very lost and lonely girl desperately looking for what we all really are looking for, love and acceptance. Just be there for her and treat her as a friend and as a valued member of the tribe and things will be alright."

With that Khu Lon hopped out into the night and made her way to the great fire to continue her talk with Han Tao and the others.

Mi Li took a few more moments to let the Elder's words sink in, than with a deep breath she entered the resting room to check on her newest patient.

The days went by fast and Ranma's body healed as quickly as it always had but it was easy to see that the spark of life that once made her blue eyes shine so brightly had burned itself low. She seemed to go through her days as if in a trance, doing her tasks like some kind of programmed automaton lacking the fiery passion that made her such a joy to have in the village.

Mi Li refused to let Ranma return to the house she once shared with Shan Pu claiming that Ranma was not in a good enough frame of mind to deal with the memories being there would dredge up and Ranma didn't even try to argue about it.

Shan Pu's trial before the council of Elders was witnessed by as many members of the tribe as could squeeze into the council hall, the rest of the tribe simply gathered around the hall and waited for every tidbit of information that they could get about the proceedings.

Shan Pu did not deny the charges against her but instead sought to imply that she was just as much of a victim as Ranma. That she had been denied her rights of mating by Ranma who had failed to live up to the pact they made when Ranma received her soul mark.

That line of reasoning did not help her case however as several witnesses, including Han Tao came forth and told how Ranma had been unconscious during the marking and that they never heard her agree to be marked as property.

After a very brief time of deliberation the council stood ready to sentence Shan Pu to death for her crime but Ranma stepped forward and pleaded that her life be spared, that even though Ranma could not be her lover she wanted to be her friend.

In the end the council agreed with Ranma and Shan Pu was not put to death but was instead removed from the roster of village warriors and given the status of a village slave. The verdict in essence made Shan Pu a slave to the village and denied her the right to bear arms and to even practice the combat arts. Shan Pu took her punishment bravely but would always steal glances and stares at Ranma when she could get away with them.

It was during the verdict when Ranma stood before everyone and took a sharp knife and slashed across the tattoo that Shan Pu had put on her arm, she slashed over Shan Pu's name several times making it almost impossible to read.

While she was staying in the healing house, Ranma began to receive regular visits from an unexpected source. Anyone who knew anything about Amazons would believe them all to be tall, shapely, well toned sex goddesses in leather. Unfortunately this was not always the case and in truth, wasn't even close for one Amazon in the tribe.

Lo Tan was a most unusual Amazon, at barely 5' tall, she was the shortest of all the village's warriors with the exception of Ranma her self who stood 4' 11". Lo Tan also lacked the shapely curves that so many of her village sisters had, in fact it would be honest to say that Lo Tan was flat as a board and as curvy as a stick. Even her hair was just plain black in color and flat in form, no matter how much she tried to dye it or let others try to style it with curls, by the next day it was back to being black and flat.

As a warrior, Lo Tan was not very good with a sword or spear and she had fallen over and almost crushed herself to death one day while trying to carry the shield that Do Wei used in battle. It would be very close to the truth to say that Lo Tan was the weakest warrior and greatest embarrassment in the village if it wasn't for a few things.

Lo Tan, while rather unskilled with the sword was in fact a master with any kind of thrown or projectile weapon such as a throwing knife, the lighter javelin or her own personal favorite, the blow gun.

Her skill with the blowgun brought to light another of her skills, Lo Tan was an expert in the field of toxins and was capable of making them in any strength she desired, from weakness causing to paralysis to straight out lethal.

One more thing needed to be said about her skills, in all of her twenty years of life, no one had ever seen the little Amazon miss any target ever.

But the most noticeable thing that could be said about Lo Tan was that despite her small size, rather plain looks and lack of physical skills she carried herself with honor and had a heart and a personality a hundred times her size.

She was the one who laughed the loudest and often went out her way to make every one around her laugh as well. Lo Tan was very likable and had almost no enemies in the village and had on several occasions placed her own life at risk to save her fellow warriors. This had earned her great respect in the village and all the warriors treated Lo Tan like their little sister.

This was the heart of Lo Tan's trouble.

It's hard to find a mate and a lover when everyone thinks of you as their kid sister. Lo Tan was lonely in a village full of friends. Even the males didn't think of Lo Tan as a potential wife. Then she met Ranma.

In the little redhead Lo Tan found a kindred spirit. She had found someone who laughed at the things she liked to laugh at, ate the same kind of foods and Ranma even liked to walk through the woods just to look at the flora and fauna, just like Lo Tan did.

In a very short time after Ranma's release from the healing house the two were inseparable. In fact, the was a rumor floating around the village that the two had been enjoying Ranma's new found libido after her Huka leaves treatments.

The rumor was later confirmed at a village feast when little It Zhi, age 3, ran through the middle of the feast hall yelling at her mother that Lo Tan and Ranma were apparently stuck together at the mouth and that they kept grabbing each other but couldn't get free.

A much blushing Lo Tan and Ranma entered the feasting area to the wild cheers and leers of a village full of Amazons who were well pleased that the two had found love together.

A week later the two solemnly exchanged soul marks in a quiet ceremony and became sworn lifemates. What was probably the most wild and drunken wedding reception in the history of the village followed, the aftermath of which left the village warriors hung over and pretty much helpless for days afterwards. Still, everyone agreed that it had been a hell of a party and well worth the hangovers.

Well, everyone had fun except for one person, Shan Pu. She watched with anger filled eyes as HER airen married some weakling who pretended to be a warrior. She seethed as she watched the little airen stealer clumsily scrawl across HER airen's arm and the fool dared call it a soul mark and she raged in her small mud hut as Ranma's cries of passion filled the night time air, cries that Shan Pu had never been able to coax from HER airen.

As a mere slave, Shan Pu was not permitted to attend the wedding or the party afterwards which was to be expected since part of her punishment for assaulting Ranma was not to have any contact with her what so ever. Oh how Shan Pu fumed at the audacity of the Elders for daring to punish her for simply showing HER airen just who her rightful owner was.

"Someday Airen," Shan Pu whispered through clenched teeth "You be back with me where you belong."

Time passed swiftly and village life moved forwards. Lo Tan continued her duties as a boarder scout and a tracker while Ranma resumed her duties as the apprentice to the village Warmistress. The two Amazons could not have been happier together and their house was well known as a place of joy and peace, not to mention some really incredible food due to the fact that Ranma had become quite a skilled cook during her time with the tribe. The two had even begun talking about petitioning the council for the right to claim a male to help with the house and to perhaps even sire a child, although Ranma always said that Lo Tan was going to be the one to carry the child where upon Lo Tan would chuckle and insist that Ranma would bear the second one. That was usually enough to get Ranma to run out of the room.

However even among their bliss darkness crawled for as time went on and things got better for the two they began to let their guard down.

It was a cold autumn evening when fate played her cruel hand. Lo Tan and Ranma were walking through the village heading back home after having a long conversation with several of the elders. So lost in their conversation they failed to notice that they were passing Shan Pu, they had always tried to avoid being anywhere close to the girl since her trial. With a snarl filled with anger and hatred Shan Pu swung the garden hoe she was using down in a hard arc bringing the blade impacting and biting deep into the skull of Lo Tan. The girl was dead before she hit the ground.

It took a moment for what just happened to register in the minds of those in the area but the sight of Lo Tan's crumpled body lying on the ground with a wild eyed smug faced Shan Pu standing over it finally brought everyone to their senses.

If Shan Pu had retained any kind of rational thought, she would have taken the brief time her sudden attack had granted her and headed out of the village as fast as she could, but instead she simply stood there gloating, convinced that now that she had removed the weakling, HER airen would throw herself into Shan Pu's waiting arms.

The smile that that fantasy placed on her face remained there even after the light in her eyes faded away, right after an enraged Ranma shoved three slightly glowing ki claws through her heart. In a display of enraged violence so savage that even the most battle hardened warriors of the village had to turn away for fear of losing their meals, Ranma had slipped into the Nekoken and diced Shan Pu into pieces. It took a sudden pressure point attack to put Ranma asleep before Lo Tan's body could be prepared for burial and Shan Pu's grisly remains carried off for disposal.

Two weeks after Lo Tan's burial Ranma left a note for Khu Lon and for the tribal Warmistress apologizing for what she did and must now do. Ranma then silently, and using the Umasenken, slipped out the main gate and headed back home to Japan.

Several months later an exhausted, starving and dehydrated Ranma, moving on will power alone encountered Hasagawa Daisuke.

Ranma ended her tale and took a sip of tea, before her sat the enrapt audience of Daisuke and Nami, Hiro the driver (who was developing a bit of a crush on the new red headed stray) the maids Emi, Shioko, Kei, Mei and the cook Shinobu. They all sat there trying to figure out their feelings about what the girl had just told them.

Nami shuddered; she had been right about the girl having had a bad life. Right then and there the kind hearted Nami reavowed that she would never let anything like that happen to the girl again.

Daisuke sat there barely containing his anger at the treatment that Ranma had gone through, especially at the hands of her own family. He knew of the Saotome Clan and while they were honorable enough, if somewhat ruthless in business dealings, they had always struck him as being more than a bit odd. After hearing Ranma's story, he vowed that he would do all in his power to keep her out of Saotome hands again.

The others just sat there for a moment, then with tear filled eyes, the girls gathered around Ranma and swamped her in a group hug filled with love and support while Hiro sat there trying to wrap his brain around the fact that the beautiful red haired girl that he was rapidly growing fond of claimed to have once been a man.

Ranma herself simply sat there trying to accept the feelings sent her way by the kind people who took her in.

"Maybe now," she thought to herself "I can finally get control of my life and perhaps start over anew."

Ranma did not know what her future held or where her fate would lead her, but for now, she was content to stay and bask in the feelings of love and warmth that she had dreamed of and desired for so long.

END OF PART ONE


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